# Flight Risk (film)

Flight Risk is a 2025 American action thriller film directed by Mel Gibson and starring Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Dockery, and Topher Grace. Its plot follows a pilot (Wahlberg) transporting an Air Marshal (Dockery) and a fugitive (Grace) across the Alaskan wilderness, where the identities and intentions of those onboard come into question.
Flight Risk was released in the United States by Lionsgate on January 24, 2025. The film received negative reviews from critics and has grossed $43 million worldwide.

## Plot

U.S. Marshal Madolyn Harris arrests Winston, an accountant, while he is hiding in Alaska after turning informant against his former employer, the Moretti crime family. Madolyn charters a small airplane to take them to Anchorage so they can transfer to New York City, where she intends for Winston to testify against the Morettis. They are piloted by Daryl Booth, a Texan living in Alaska, who explains that the aircraft's radio is broken.
While shackled in the middle of the plane, Winston spots Daryl's pilot licence under the seat in front of him, noticing that the photograph is a different person to "Daryl". He tries to warn Madolyn, who has a headset on and cannot hear him. After a brief conversation with Madolyn, the pilot's accent slips, revealing himself to be a hitman using Daryl's identity with orders to kill Winston. Madolyn manages to subdue him with a taser, and takes over piloting the plane.
Using her satellite phone, Madolyn explains the situation to her direct superior, Caroline Van Sant. Caroline tells her that Winston must be kept alive if the Morettis are to be brought to justice. Winston had skimmed $1 million from the Morettis during his time working for them. Caroline tells Madolyn that the real Daryl Booth had been tortured to death by the pilot, and that she will arrange for another pilot to call her to help navigate them to safety. Madolyn begins to grow suspicious of Caroline when she seems reluctant to send help directly, so she gets in touch with Director Coleridge to explain her suspicions. However, Coleridge gives himself away as being on Moretti's payroll when he mentions his beach house, as Winston recognizes the address from a past payment he had made for Moretti, putting Caroline's life in danger.
"Daryl" wakes up, shackled to the overhead rack, and taunts Winston, promising to make him suffer, as well as to kill his mother, whose address he knows. He also reveals that Madolyn had been put on desk duty for several years after her neglect had caused the death of a witness in her custody during her last field mission; Madolyn permitted the witness to take a shower unsupervised albeit handcuffed when their motel room was firebombed by a Cartel hitman and Madolyn fled while forgetting the witness.
Hasan, a pilot on the ground in Anchorage, calls Madolyn and teaches her how to steer the plane; he also calms her and promises to buy her a drink when they land safely. "Daryl" manages to free himself from his handcuffs and attacks the pair. He stabs Winston twice and strangles Madolyn with the seatbelt. She is about to pass out when Winston removes the knife from his chest and cuts the belt, allowing Madolyn to shoot "Daryl" with a flare gun, incapacitating him at the back of the plane. When Coleridge calls Madolyn and tells her that Caroline has been killed in a car accident, she vows to bring him down alongside the Morettis.
With Winston now in dire need of medical attention, Hasan guides Madolyn into landing the plane as quickly as possible by burning through their remaining fuel supply. On the approach, "Daryl" regains consciousness and attacks, but is shot by Madolyn, and thrown off the plane where he is run over by an ambulance, as Madolyn manages a successful crash landing.
Winston is rushed into an ambulance by the ground crew as Madolyn is greeted by a smiling Hasan. Madolyn notices that a suspicious-looking paramedic has entered the ambulance, and Madolyn quickly shoots the paramedic before he can choke Winston to death. Madolyn picks up the paramedic's phone, revealing him as hitman acting under orders from Coleridge who is on the other end of the line, and she tells Coleridge that he will certainly be imprisoned. Madolyn shares a smile with Winston as the ambulance leaves for the hospital.

## Cast

* Michelle Dockery as Madolyn Harris, a Deputy U.S. Marshal.
* Mark Wahlberg as the Pilot / "Daryl Booth", a hitman disguised as a Texan pilot.
* Topher Grace as Winston, a mob accountant-turned-informant.
* Leah Remini (voice) as Caroline Van Sant, a U.S. Marshal and Madolyn's superior officer.
* Paul Ben-Victor (voice) as Director Coleridge, the agent in charge of the operation.
* Maaz Ali (voice) as Hasan, a pilot who guides the plane from the ground.
** Monib Abhat appears on-screen as Hasan

## Production

In December 2020, Jared Rosenberg's screenplay Flight Risk was voted onto the year's "Black List" of the most-liked unproduced screenplays in Hollywood. In May 2023, it was reported that Mel Gibson would direct and Mark Wahlberg would star. In January 2024, Topher Grace and Michelle Dockery joined the cast.
The film is a co-production between Icon Productions and Davis Entertainment Company. It was produced in association with Media Capital Technologies (a film financing company), Hammerstone Studios and Blue Rider Pictures. Gibson directed and produced the film along with Bruce Davey, John Davis, and John Fox.
Principal photography began in Las Vegas in June 2023. Filming occurred for two days in Mesquite, Nevada in July 2023. Filming also took place in Alaska. SAG-AFTRA granted the filmmakers approval to allow filming during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Filming concluded in August 2023. Wahlberg partially shaved his head each day while filming for the role of a balding pilot instead of wearing a bald cap.

## Release

Flight Risk was released in the United States by Lionsgate on January 24, 2025. It was originally set to be theatrically released on October 18, 2024. Lionsgate spent around $20 million on promoting the film, which did not mention Gibson by name. Social media analytics firm RelishMix reported that online marketing led to 79 million interactions across social media platforms, 40% behind the average for action-thrillers, with online users expressing "negative leaning chatter" given the film's January release. Variety noted that Lionsgate held the film's review embargo until Thursday preview screenings in anticipation of negative critical reviews but that the studio was "likely in an alright enough position" because it "typically covers financial risks by selling off foreign rights to its films before release."

## Reception
### Box office

As of March 11, 2025, Flight Risk has grossed $29.8 million in the United States and Canada, and $13.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $43.6 million.
In the United States and Canada, Flight Risk was released alongside Presence and Brave the Dark and was projected to gross $9–11 million from 3,161 theaters in its opening weekend. It made $4.4 million on its first day, including an estimated $950,000 from Thursday night previews. It debuted to $11.6 million, topping the box office. It was the second number-one opening of 2025 for Lionsgate after Den of Thieves 2: Pantera. Exit polling indicated that 32% of attendees saw the film for Wahlberg and 16% for Gibson. Women accounted for 46% of the audience during its opening, with those over 25 comprising 45% and premium large format screens contributing 27%. The film made $5.4 million in its second weekend and $2.6 million in its third, dropping out of the box office top ten in its fourth.

### Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 29% of 112 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.7/10. The website's consensus reads: "While there's a place for high-octane dumb fun, Flight Risk dives straight into unpleasant camp without a parachute." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 38 out of 100, based on 28 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale, while those polled by PostTrak gave it a 70% positive score.
Clint Worthington of RogerEbert.com gave the film one and a half out of four stars and wrote, "Flight Risk, with its bonkers casting (Mark Wahlberg as a crazy balding charter pilot assassin) and ridiculous poster tagline ("Y'all need a pilot?"), occasionally teases out the kind of sleazy fun action-movie enthusiasts might reclaim in a few years' time. But as it sits in this passenger's estimation, Flight Risk is a supremely bumpy ride that doesn't quite justify its logline." In a mixed review, Wendy Ide of The Guardian praised Wahlberg's performance, calling it "enormous" and "pulpy fun", though she found the movie "diminished in terms of scope and ambition" compared to Gibson's other directorial efforts. In his review, critic Mark Kermode called it "one of the worst films I've ever seen".